With Ant-Man now suddenly looking like a much shakier prospect sans Edgar Wright, there's now an element of added pressure for the similarly untested Doctor Strange standalone, which is likely to feature in Phase Three sometime after Ant-Man's 2015 release.

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The character of Stephen Strange has been likened to Tony Stark - he's an arrogant neurosurgeon who's forced to find new purpose after his hands are mangled in an accident - with some reports suggesting that Strange is being pitched as the Marvel Universe's next "hub" character after Iron Man.

To sum up, they need one hell of an actor to fill this surgeon-turned-sorceror's shoes. We've rounded up five of the strongest contenders below, some of them genuinely in the mix, others just wishful thinking. Take a look through our list, and let us know your picks in the comments!

It's been tough to find a major franchise role that Cumberbatch hasn't been rumoured for lately, but with JJ Abrams' Star Wars now officially off the table and filming on The Hobbit complete, this one just might have legs.

While Cumberbatch has little track record as a leading man outside of Sherlock, that puts him right in line with most of Marvel's previous casting choices, and the role seems close to tailor-made for him. He can play the cold, detached man of science, and he can certainly play the tragic elements of Strange, who loses his parents, sister and medical career within the space of a few years.

Equally magnetic whether he's part of an ensemble (as in Inception) or entirely alone on screen (Locke), Hardy is the kind of actor who could easily shoulder the burden of uniting Phase Three's heroes in the vein of a Tony Stark. There's also a quality of earthy humanity about him that could prove vital for a character who will act as Marvel's "doorway" into the supernatural.

Go with us on this one. It's not just that Arnett has demonstrated such a flair for magic tricks illusions in his defining role as Arrested Development's GOB. The casting of Paul Rudd as Ant-Man shows that Marvel are demonstrably not afraid to take a punt on actors best known for comedy, and Arnett could more than pull off Strange's pre-sorcery persona as an arrogant, callous surgeon.

Since House ended its eight-season run, Laurie has been focusing more on music, but that hasn't stopped his name coming up as a fan favourite in numerous casting races. Playing a celebrated but callous doctor with demons certainly isn't a push for Laurie, and he has exactly the kind of commanding presence and dry charisma that would be needed for a prospective Tony Stark successor.

One of the earliest names rumoured for the Stephen Strange role was Depp, although Kevin Feige has since claimed that the casting rumour emerged long before any names had been discussed. But after a string of recent failures (The Tourist, The Lone Ranger, Transcendence), not to mention the diminishing returns of the Pirates franchise, Depp could use a career reinvention, and we'd love to see him take the role of Strange and make it his own in the way he once did with Jack Sparrow.